It took the Russians nine months to sail their navy 18,000 miles from the Baltic Sea around the horn of Africa and to the Sea of Japan in 1905, where their Japanese enemies wiped them out in just a few hours at the Battle of Tsushima. The Japanese triumph and Russian disaster, "largely forgotten in the West," according to Constantine Pleshakov, marked a vital turning point in world history. Not only did it inaugurate a new era of naval technology, but it also announced Japan's ascent as a global force (which would culminate during the Second World War) and Russia's collapse into "the dark tsardom of Bolshevism." Pleshakov ranks the battle alongside other classic naval engagements, such as Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway. Yet the bulk of The Tsar's Last Armada focuses on the Russians' long journey to doom, led by the "frightfully imposing" and "savage" admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky. Pleshakov has a good eye for little details. As the fleet approached the tropics, he reports, the humidity became so bad that the crew's "towels and underwear would not dry." The Battle of Tsushima receives full coverage at the end of the book, but Pleshakov's engaging account of what preceded it is what readers will find most memorable. --John Miller


From Publishers Weekly
In 1905, with the Russian imperialist excursion into China teetering on the brink of collapse, Russia's vast Trans-Siberian Railroad threatened, its Pacific Fleet bottled up in Port Arthur and its eastern army besieged on the peninsula protecting the port of Vladivostock, the czar conceived a bizarre plan, deciding to assemble a new fleet and sail it more than 18,000 miles to defeat the Japanese navy and relieve his forces at Port Arthur. Though the second fleet comes to a disastrous end, the battle does not begin until page 260 (and it is all over by page 285): the story here is in the arduous journey. Passing fearful allies and belligerent neutrals as well as dealing with impossible supply lines, difficult communications and inept leadership both by the government in St. Petersburg and by his subordinates Adm. Zinovy Petrovich "Mad Dog" Rozhestvensky emerges as the tragic hero of this "epic." In the unfolding of these details, Pleshakov provides a clear view of the politics and history of the time, as well as of Rozhestvensky. In clear and convincing English from the admitted nonnative speaker Pleshakov, the book moves inexorably toward its inevitable end with the power of a giant dreadnought at full steam, affording a moving portrait of a capable leader placed in a situation where he could not possibly prevail. Against all odds, and by this point against even the reader's better judgment, the Russian fleet arrives at the Sea of Japan to do battle with the newer, faster, more powerful, better trained and freshly maintenanced Japanese fleet, and is quickly defeated. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
As the title suggests, this book tells the story of the Russian navy as it sailed to meet the increasing threat from Japan in 1905. Japan had sunk the Russian Port Arthur squadron and eventually captured the Port Arthur garrison itself. The tsar then ordered the 2d Pacific squadron to the Pacific in a vain attempt to relieve the Port Arthur garrison (at what is now Lshan, China), but the ships were hardly a true fighting force. Several developed mechanical problems and had to turn back. The sailors were untrained, and even the main battleships could not have target practice because they lacked enough shells. The admiral himself knew what would eventually happen and tried to resign. Most of the Russian ships and thousands of men were destroyed by the Japanese during the battle. This book is a page-turner, even though one knows what the outcome will be. Russian historian Pleshakov (Inside the Kremlin's Cold War), currently a visiting professor at Mount Holyoke, used Russian archives to write a story of true courage and fortitude during a historic episode that has been largely ignored. Historians and specialists will be interested in the narrative and development of the main characters. Recommended for academic and public libraries. Mark Ellis, Albany State Univ., GACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Emblematic of the incompetence of tsarist autocracy, the annihilation of nearly every Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War is one of the great tragedies of naval history. The war's consequences were profound (revolution in Russia, Japan's vault to superpower status) and warrant this dramatic treatment of its climactic combat, the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Anyone interested in navies will race through this book, replete as it is with the still-strange spectacle of a battle fleet sailing around the world to its doom. That mood of foreboding permeates the story, for although the Russians were not outmatched by the Japanese on paper, they were in woeful condition. In their awful nine-month voyage to the Korea Strait, harassed the length of it by the British through both diplomacy and espionage, they suffered from unremitting mechanical breakdowns, inadequate gunnery practice, and demoralization of the crews. Pleshakov focuses on the volcanic admiral in command of the enterprise, Rozhestvensky, who had no faith in the harebrained voyage--it was done at Nicholas II's insistence--but tried mightily to make it succeed. Pleshakov conveys equally well the feel of the voyage, its heat, the social rift between officers and men, and the filthy, arduous task of coaling the warships. A compulsively readable account told from the Russian viewpoint. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Battle of Tsushima of 1905 represented a critical turning point in the global military power structure. For the first time, an Asian nation (Japan) defeated a European adversary (Russia). Japan's emergence as a world superpower had been confirmed, setting the stage for world wars to come. How was the proud Russian fleet so decisively defeated at Tsushima? Constantine Pleshakov, a Russian scholar and professor of international relations, looks back at Tsar Nicholas II's doomed fleet, led by the charismatic and supremely confident admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"A stirring reconstruction of one of history's great—and least known —naval battles.... Fascinating stuff. A boon for students of military history and naval warfare."— Kirkus Reviews (starred review).

On May 14-15, 1905, in the Tsushima Straits near Japan, an entire Russian fleet was annihilated, its ships sunk, scattered, or captured by the Japanese. In the deciding battle of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese lost only three destroyers but the Russians lost twenty-two ships and thousands of sailors. It was the first modern naval battle, employing all the new technology of destruction. The old imperial navy was woefully unprepared.

The defeat at Tsushima was the last and greatest of many indignities suffered by the Russian fleet, which had traveled halfway around the world to reach the battle, dogged every mile by bad luck and misadventure. Their legendary admiral, dubbed "Mad Dog," led them on an extraordinary eighteen-thousand-mile journey from the Baltic Sea, around Europe, Africa, and Asia, to the Sea of Japan. They were burdened by the Tsar's incompetent leadership and the old, slow ships that he insisted be included to bulk up the fleet. Moreover, they were under constant fear of attack, and there were no friendly ports to supply coal, food, and fresh water. The level of self-sufficiency attained by this navy was not seen again until the Second World War.

The battle of Tsushima is among the top five naval battles in history, equal in scope and drama to those of Lepanto, Trafalgar, Jutland, and Midway, yet despite its importance it has been long neglected in the West. With a novelist's eye and a historian's authority, Constantine Pleshakov tells of the Russian squadron's long, difficult journey and fast, horrible defeat.

Author Biography: Constantine Pleshakov received his Ph.D. from the Soviet Academy of Sciences and was Director of the Geopolitics Center there until 1995. He has been a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and a Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, and since 1998 has been a professor of International Relations at Mount Holyoke College. He is the co-author of Inside the Kremlin's Cold War and Flight of the Romanovs and has published six novels and a collection of short stories in Russia. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

SYNOPSIS

The total victory of the Japanese over the Russians in May 1905 stunned the western world at the time, but only later was seen to have ushered in the modern age of war and politics. Pleshakov (international relations, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts) tells of the Russian fleet's epic voyage from St. Petersburg around Europe and Africa, across the Indian Ocean, and up the east coast of Asia to meet its quick destruction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

FROM THE CRITICS

Wall Street Journal

Outside historians' circles, few are familiar with the conflict known as the Battle of the Tsushima Straits, which is why [this book] is so useful. Mr. Pleshakov...has crafted a moving narrative of the 18,000-mile journey of the fleet and its driving force, 'Mad Dog' Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky.

Booklist

Anyone interested in navies will race through this book.... A compulsively readable account told from the Russian viewpoint.

Boston Globe

In Pleshakov's telling, the incidents of the voyage are so astonishing and rendered with such attention to colorful detail that the battle is almost an anticlimax.

Publishers Weekly

Pleshakov provides a clear view of politics and history of the time.... This book has just the right balance of perspectives.

National Post